(Newser)
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Don’t you hate it when you get distracted after opening an ice cream sandwich and it melts? On the flip side, don’t you hate it when it … doesn’t melt? An Ohio mom tells Cincinnati's WCPO that she got a little alarmed upon discovering that her son's Walmart Great Value sandwich bar was still mostly intact after being left on the patio for 12 hours on an 80-degree day. Christie Watson conducted a second test with similar results, and the TV station then confirmed it by comparing the Walmart brand against Haagen-Dazs and Klondike. Melt-off results showed that the other two brands liquefied at rates you’d expect after 30 minutes in the sun—read: fairly quickly—while the Walmart sandwich melted only a wee bit.

So what gives? It's because of "certain specific ingredients that, when taken together, have the net effect of creating un-cream," writes CA Pinkham at Jezebel's Kitchenette. Consider that Haagen-Dazs ingredients' list consists of just cream, milk, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. It melts fast. But the Walmart brand has a much bigger list of ingredients, including "stabilizers" such as corn syrup, guar gum, and cellulose gum that slow down melting, explains Fox News. All are FDA-approved, and they generally keep the price of store-brand bars relatively low—even if the resulting "ice cream" doesn't quite behave the way you'd expect. (Another childhood staple, McDonald’s Happy Meals, also have a long shelf life.)

The point that a lot of the folks who have commented seem to be missing is that the ice cream itself isn't exactly good for you -- butterfat, sugar, eggs, etc. aren't exactly "health food," either. Basically, it's a heart attack in a round container.

jamescraig2000

Jul 28, 2014 4:24 PM CDT

Tastes good to me BURWARP!

Lou Bernardo

Jul 28, 2014 12:03 PM CDT

All the gunk put in food products is just a way to cheapen the product's cost and raise the profit margin. Buy Blue Bell ice cream, it's one of the best and not as expensive as the so-called elegant stuff.